Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Hammer Shotguns

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Smart-Ass Reader Joe G writes and asks me:  “If you’re as old-fashioned as you say you are, why have you never considered a shotgun that uses hammers instead of those newfangled hidden devices?”

It’s a good question (if a trifle impertinent), but let me open the discussion by showing one such, the (new) CZ Hammer Coach (~$900):

It is a strange thing that while we gunnies are all over the idea of single-action handguns (e.g. Colt Single Action Army revolvers), the same principle doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to shotguns, and it shows in the sales thereof.

Not many gun manufacturers make the old-style hammer guns anymore, other than in a style reminiscent of the old “stagecoach” short-barreled things (like the above).  And I’m not interested in a 20″ barrel, unless in a designated self-defense piece like a pump-action.

But if one wants a long-barreled hammer shotgun, the choices are scant:  either a hammer gun that is so old it’s unusable, like this old Gibbs from 1885:

…or else one that is old but still usable, like this Purdey Best Bar Action 12ga (~$16,500):

By the way, this Purdey would already be mine apart from reasons of poverty, because it is drop-dead gorgeous (right-click to embiggen both pics):

So why don’t I have or want one of these oldies?

It’s a simple reason, really:  nobody makes (or has ever made, apparently) a hammer gun in 20 gauge.  My days of shooting 12ga shotguns are over (brief as they were to start off with) because my shoulder just can’t take the sustained pounding of the big guy anymore.  And given that I mostly shoot clays nowadays, I am likely to pull the trigger upwards of a hundred times or more in a session.  And even that creates a sizeable bruise with 20ga, not that I care — but with a 12ga?  Yikes.

Of course, there’s this fine W&C Scott offering, which although originally barreled for 12ga, has been re-sleeved to 20ga, and is a steal at a mere (coff coff ) $7,500:

Hmm…

So I’m not that averse to the idea… but practicality gives me a kick in the ass, as it usually does (sigh).

I Fucking Knew It

Government Thugs, Gummint, The Gun Thing

These bastards:

The Biden administration has disclosed that it possesses firearm purchase records by Americans that adds up to almost one billion, contrary to what members of Congress were aware of, on the heels of an investigation last year showing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has records on more than 54 million transactions.
ATF acknowledged in a letter to Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), which was obtained by The Washington Free Beacon, that it currently has records of more than 920 million gun purchase records. Cloud launched a probe after the outlet reported on the stockpiling of records, which he called a “federal firearm registry” that is “explicitly banned by law*.”
The agency has been transferring hard copies of the records to a digital database used to find guns related to criminal activity, even though ATF denies that its records are intended to track owners. More than 850 million of the records can be accessed digitally, the agency reported. The documents can then be digitally searched with optical character recognition technology.

Now that’s going to make you feel all warm and cuddly when filling out the hated 4473 form, isn’t it?

Thank gawd for private transactions (which, by the way, these gun-grabbing pricks are trying to make illegal, too).

*The Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) prohibits ATF from crafting a registry on sales or owners and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1968 that registries are banned for gun ineligible Americans. FOPA states:

No such rule or regulation prescribed [by the Attorney General] after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or disposition be established. 

Not that these fuckers care about breaking the law, apparently…

Boomershoot Rifle Option

Boomershoot, The Gun Thing

******************UPDATE:  I ordered the Howa**********************

As my Loyal Readers all know, our Boomershoot CZ 557 rifle was most foully stolen from my house during the Great Flood Catastrophe Of 2021.  (I say “our” because I was simply holding it for whoever the raffle winner might be.)

I have been waiting patiently to replace the damn thing, but I despair.  I’m on about six gun outlets’ waiting list, but time is getting tight and if I want to take it up to Boomershoot 2022 to see if it’s fit for purpose, I need to get one of similar quality — PROVIDED that none of the current (and I have to say, most patient) ticketholders object.

The one I’m looking at as a replacement for the CZ 557 is this one:

It’s the Howa Chassis Rifle (HCR), chambered in .308 Win/7.62x51mm NATO (here’s a review which should tell you everything you need to know about it).

I found one, it’s in stock, black as pictured, and the dealer is holding it for me.  All I need is ticketholder approval and it will be on its way to me tomorrow.

Responses in Comments, ASAP please.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: S&W Mod 648 (.22 Win Mag)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Being out of touch, as always, I failed to notice that S&W have (once again) re-released their lovely little Model 648 — only this time, it has an 8-round cylinder:

I just love the look of this piece;  a nice heavy barrel and underlug on a K-frame Smith?  Be still, my beating heart.

But it had better be a strong heart.

Longtime Readers will be aware that I am a huge fan of the .22 Mag (.22 Win Mag/WMR) cartridge, and all things being equal I would be on the hunt for one of these new 8-shooters toot sweet, so to speak.

But seriously — and I have bitched and moaned about this before — the cost of .22 Mag ammo is just foul.  When .22 LR has come down to around 10 cents per pop, its big brother stays stubbornly around 36 cents, which just sucks.  Even back in the Good Times (1999 – 2005), it was still relatively pricey, but even so, I recall paying about 15 cents per (about double that of Min-Mag .22 LR from CCI) on a bulk purchase;  and thank goodness it was a bulk purchase (5,000 rounds), because I’m still shooting ammo from that and earlier purchases.  I haven’t had the nerve (or wallet) to buy any more since then.

That kind of price just takes the ammo — and the guns which shoot them — right out of the plinking / fun shooting, and relegates it to varmint hunting.  And by the way, if I were to go varminting now, I could shoot .223 Rem ammo at 32 cent a squeeze, and save 4 cents a time over .22 Mag.  Total suckage.

And I know all about the cost/demand curve, and a pox on it:  because it’s taking this lovely revolver right off my wish list.

Droolworthy

The Gun Thing

Shooting the William Powell Sovereign.

Here’s the gun under discussion:

I like Jonny Carter — it’s nice to see a youngin getting into the gun thing, and he is quite knowledgeable about shotguns.  More to the point, he loves shotguns and it shows in every video he puts out.  (Sadly, he is of the over/under persuasion, rather than a devotee of the proper side-by-side experience, but nobody’s perfect.)

About the gun itself:  unlike their other guns of the past, the Sovereign is made in Italy’s F. Rizzini factory — but for those who think that this is somehow a Bad Thing, let me point out that a typical handmade Rizzini side-by-side of similar specs can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $nosebleed.  So a Sovereign costing about $6,000 off-the-shelf is not a bad deal in terms of the cost : quality curve, the difference being that they are production-line guns as opposed to handmade.

Another point:  Brit shotgunners are not allowed to shoot lead shot, and as bismuth and such are too expensive, they’ve been forced into using steel shot — and for the older generations of shotguns not proofed for steel, this means eventual destruction of the barrels.  (Mr. Free Market gloomily foretells the demise of the British-made premium shotgun, for this reason.)  Which is why the Sovereign’s claim of “shooting into the future” should resonate, and rightly so.

If I had the $$$, I’d get one in a heartbeat.

Sorta-Comeback

The Gun Thing

So I got this news via Ammo.com (see sidebar for link):

Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. Reintroduces the Marlin 1895 SBL Lever-Action Rifle

“We are excited to officially flip the switch and let our customers know that Marlin is back,” said Ruger President and CEO, Chris Killoy. “Since the move of over 100 truckloads of equipment and inventory back in November 2020, our engineering team took the 1895 through a complete design and production review focused on achieving the highest quality, accuracy, and performance standards. The end result is a quality rifle, produced using modern manufacturing methods, that consumers will be sure to enjoy and proud to own.”

This first model is just the beginning of the reintroduction of the Marlin brand and illustrates the improved manufacturing processes that deliver reliable, attractive firearms. These processes will result in the introduction of additional Marlin models, calibers and variations over the coming years.

All well and good.  Then comes this little sting in the tail:

Due to the anticipated strong demand and the limited quantity of Ruger-made Marlin lever-action rifles, Ruger encourages retailers to contact their distributors for availability and advises consumers not to leave deposits with retailers that do not have confirmed shipments.

Translation:  “We’re going to make these fantastic rifles again, but just not quite as many so that we can keep prices artificially high.”

And I bet they’re going to disfigure those “RM” Marlin rifles with that stupid and unnecessary Ruger warning that “guns are dangerous” (right-click to embiggen):

It’s enough to make you sick.